OSCE Office begins training course to monitor places of detention in Armenia

YEREVAN, 26 April 2006 - A four-day training course to increase the professional capacity of public monitoring groups to monitor places of detention started today in Tsakhkadzor in Armenia.

The course, organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan together with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), is for members of the two Public Monitoring Groups established under the Armenian Ministry of Justice and the Armenian police. It will focus on reporting on conditions in penitentiary institutions and the rights of detainees.

"Improving conditions in the places of detention and protection of detainees' rights is a priority area for the OSCE," said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office. "I commend the establishment of the Public Monitoring Groups, initiated by the Armenian authorities and supported by civil society. They create an effective mechanism for identifying the existing problems which in turn helps improve the situation."

Cynthia Alkon, Head of the ODIHR's Rule of Law programme, said that "Public monitoring mechanisms are a key safeguard for the protection of human rights in places of detention."

During the training course, the 24 participants will get acquainted with national legislation and international standards for the treatment of prisoners. They will alsoacquire practical knowledge on how to organize a visit to a place of detention and report on it.

A number of local experts and the Chairperson of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee will present the specifics of monitoring pre-trial detention places and police custody besides discussing key areas of concern. The training session includes extensive group exercises, mock investigations and actual visits to a detention cell, as well as the preparation of a report.

The establishment of the Public Monitoring Group under the Ministry of Justice two years ago and another one recently under Armenia's police forces, ensures public oversight of the penitentiary institutions, allowing issues of concern to be raised and detainees' rights to be protected.

A similar training course was organized by the OSCE in July 2004, when the first Public Monitoring Group was formed.